Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
Chocolate Hazelnut Spread.
Chocolate biscuits, chocolate mousse, chocolate bliss balls, chocolate smoothies, and now Chocolate Hazelnut Spread! Yes there is a LOT of chocolate in this house, but who doesn’t love chocolate?
Not Nutella.
Everyone has tasted or heard of Nutella. Kiddos love it! I know it’s high in fat, but I also know it’s loaded with sugar. I didn’t want to reinvent Nutella, but rather have an alternative to use that I feel more comfortable with the twins eating.
They tasted the good stuff over the Christmas period. Our Elf on the shelf ‘Jingles’ left them a tiny jar each with some Christmas tree crumpets. They inhaled it. There were a few mornings following that one where they asked for Nutella, I did explain to them that it was a special Christmas treat from the North Pole.
I might not want them to eat it all the time, but let me tell you, I did love the fact I didn’t have to put on my negotiating hat at breakfast. There was no complaining about eating or bribing anyone to take another bite (yes I know that goes against all the picky eating rules).
A healthier Alternative.
This is why I wanted an alternative. A healthier Chocolate Hazelnut Spread that we can use on Banana Pancakes or some wholemeal bread. Something I can offer in the morning that the twins will actually be excited to eat. And something I can pack to take with us when we go out for lunch.
Don’t Turn Your Back on Roasting Hazelnuts!
Ok, so I’m learning something new every time I start experimenting in the kitchen. Today’s lesson was don’t turn off the alarm for the roasting hazelnuts before you’ve removed them from the oven. I seriously turned my back for what seemed like 30 seconds. I turned off the alarm and Cole asked me to wash his hands. The next thing I know, the majority of the hazelnuts were black.
Then to make matters worse, I thought maybe I could salvage the ones that weren’t so bad. I wasted so much time getting the skin off the hazelnuts and then dirtied the food processor only to end up with a burnt Chocolate Hazelnut Spread. So lesson two, if you happened to walk away from the roasting hazelnuts and accidentally burnt them, just chuck them and start again.
Making a Mess.
Usually I rub the hot hazelnuts between two tea towels to remove the skin. Let me tell you, this is a job I really don’t like doing! I always make a mess, and never get as much off as I’d like. After doing this twice (with the burnt ones and the second nicely roasted batch), I had a whinge about it to my sister. Then she told me she usually puts them in a mason jar and shakes the hazelnuts until the skin is removed….. I guess I’ll try this next time.
*This post has been a long time in the making. Since starting to write it, I have made the Chocolate Hazelnut spread another two times. So now I can tell you, that shaking the hazelnuts in the mason jar is definitely a less messy option. But it does still take a bit of time. I did find that I was able to remove more of the skin this way too. I’ll keep experimenting and let you know if I find an easier way.*
The Kids LOVE it!
You’ll need a pretty decent food processor to blitz the hazelnuts smooth enough to make a spread. The finished product of mine was still quite ‘grainy’, but the kids loved it! Yes you read that correctly; the kids loved it.
*I’m going to go ahead and say they love it. They ask for it most days and this Chocolate Hazelnut Spread has become a bit of a staple in our house*
Coconut Oil.
I added a fair amount of coconut oil to the Chocolate Hazelnut Spread. For a few reasons I guess; fat content obviously, but also I hoped it would help me get a smoother finish. I’m not sure that the second one actually happened, but the finished result was yummy, so I’m not too fussed.
The only problem with using so much coconut oil is that when it’s cooled it becomes solid. Instead of a Chocolate Hazelnut Spread you end up with more of a slice stuck inside a jar. I was going to try and change up the recipe, so that it could be refrigerated or so that it would stay runny enough in cooler conditions….
but the kids ate it, the fat content is great for Norah and they went through the jar quick enough, so I’m happy to just keep the jar in the pantry.
Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
My healthier alternative to store bought chocolate hazelnut spreads. The kiddos go crazy for this stuff! It's definitely a staple in our house.
Ingredients
- 300 g raw hazelnuts 184.2g of fat
- 7 tbsp coconut oil 140g of fat
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar
- 3 tbsp cacao powder
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
Instructions
-
Pre heat the oven to 180℃
-
Spread the hazelnuts onto an oven tray.
-
Place the tray in the oven for 2.5 minutes and then give them a shake before returning them to the oven for a further 2.5 minutes. Keep a close eye on them, they burn quickly. Cooking time will vary from oven to oven.
-
Remove the hazelnuts from the oven. This is the fun part; Choose a method for removing the hazelnuts skins:
1. Place the hot hazelnuts between 2 clean tea towel and rub together to remove as much skin as possible.
-
2. Or put the hazelnuts into a clean mason jar and shake vigorously to remove as much skin as possible. You'll have to do this in several different batches.
-
Place the hazelnuts in the food processor and blitz for a few minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl down several times.
-
Add the coconut oil to the hazelnuts and continue to blitz. Scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
-
Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and blitz until everything is combined and resembles an oily paste/spread.
-
Transfer the chocolate hazelnut spread into a clean mason jar and store at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
Total fat content approximately 324.2g of fat.
This makes approximately 21tbsp at 15.4g of fat per tbsp.
IF YOU LOVED THIS RECIPE, SUBSCRIBE NOW TO RECEIVE ALL OUR NEW RECIPES WITH THE FAT CONTENT ALREADY CALCULATED FOR YOU.